Residency Match Week 2013

Good luck to all the 4th year medical students who are matching for residency positions!

Pharmacy student sentenced for killing mother

This is a sad story of a pharmacy student who literally took things into his own hands. It sounds like this Asian American student had a parent who put too much pressure on him to become a physician instead of a pharmacist.

A pharmacy student was sentenced today to six years in state prison for strangling and killing his mother after becoming angry that she disapproved of his pharmacy studies and wanted him to become a physician. Son Richard Lam Nguyen, 31, Garden Grove, was convicted by a jury March 23, 2010, of one felony count of voluntary manslaughter. The defendant is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine with a Bachelor of Science in biology. At the time of the crime, he was a first-year student at Ross University in Dominica, located in the Caribbean, studying to be a pharmacist. 

 To read about this case, click here.

H1N1 spreading in colleges and universities

I'm glad that I'm not a college student this year. According to this CNN report, H1N1 (swine flu) appears to have infected over 2,600 students at Washington State University. Sounds like people should stay at home and take their courses online. Distance learning is now very effective thanks to major advances in communications technologies.

The school is following guidelines from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the local health department by "treating all patients with influenza-like symptoms as if they have H1N1."

As H1N1 spreads to more colleges this fall and winter, I wonder how this will impact academic performance. Wouldn't you love to have an excuse for those lousy grades? I was sick during finals. I missed too many classes. I was quarantined.

H1N1 (swine flu) advice for parents now that students are returning to school

Now that many students are back to school, parents are very concerned about swine flu (H1N1). Dr. Sanjay Gupta on CNN offers some practical advice for parents who have concerns about this pandemic. The four points outlined by Dr. Gupta include: keep your sick kids at home, call your pediatrician before taking your child to the doctor, and make sure you know when you must call your doctor.

We know that many students (and parents) are going to get sick this fall/winter with H1N1. Let's hope that parents and teachers don't over-react to this situation but that they use common sense as they deal with swine flu and that they consult their healthcare providers appropriately. Emergency rooms and primary care offices will be extremely busy this fall/winter. What's going to happen as healthcare providers get sick? We're probably going to see some significant shortages of healthcare providers this fall/winter.

Here's my tip for parents:
Have a backup plan so that you can go somewhere else in case your healthcare provider is unavailable. If your pediatrician is a solo practitioner and he/she gets sick, then you'll have to find a different office.

Controversies about acne

As high school and college students get ready to go back to school, many of them have one thing on their mind: their looks. They are so self-conscious that they would be willing to do almost anything to improve their self-image. One of the biggest problems faced by young people today is acne. If you've never had a serious problem with acne, then you may have a difficult time truly understanding what some people go through. For many students and young adults, acne can lead to serious problems with self-esteem, social interactions, and much more. What may seem to be a common dermatological condition can lead to serious mental and emotional problems.

Several controversies still surround acne. Clinicians really don't know what to think when it comes to some of these issues because the evidence is still lacking. For instance, does your diet affect your acne? If you eat greasy foods, are you more likely to have a greasy face? Here's something interesting: A study of 47,355 women in the Nurses' Health Study that used retrospective data collection to determine diet during high school found an association between acne and intake of milk. Didn't expect that, did you? There is currently no robust evidence that eating chocolate is associated with an increase in acne. Thank goodness, because I love eating chocolate.

What about stress? Does stress worsen acne? In one study, acne severity seemed to be associated with stress, particularly in boys. A different study of 22 university students found that acne severity appeared to have some correlation with stress around the time of school examinations. 22 students isn't a large number, so we probably need additional studies to really answer the question of stress. We live in a world of evidence-based medicine, so we need to make sure that we're making conclusive statements that are based on strong clinical evidence and not just anecdotal stories. Of course, if you're convinced that certain foods or stress affect your acne, you may not care about evidence.

Using the iPhone or iPod Touch in Healthcare

The Apple iPhone and iPod Touch are versatile devices that can be used in the healthcare setting. Can you think of more than 15 ways they can be used? If you're a medical student or a resident, maybe you can empty your white coat and replace some of your tools with this single device. Here's my list of 15 ways:

1. Epocrates (drug reference)
2. Web browsing (research)
3. Record patient data
4. 2-way communication with others (get rid of those pagers!)
5. Neuro/rehab tests and exercises (use the built-in accelerometer and improve your gait)
6. Visual acuity tests and exercises
7. Vibratory stimulation test (no need for that bulky tuning fork)
8. Auditory test (can you hear that high-pitched sound?)
9. Reflex hammer? Maybe, if you're really talented.
10. Take a photo of that rash or wound (great for surgery and dermatology)
11. Flash cards
12. Anatomy reference (try ADAM)
13. As a phone to answer your pages (if you still carry a pager)
14. As a flashlight in your call room
15. To watch Scrubs, ER, or other educational medical TV shows.
16. Medical podcasts, earn CME/CE credits.

I could go on and on, but I was thinking about these things as I played around with my iPod. Can you add to this list?

Netbooks for Students

I often get asked, "are netbooks appropriate for students?"

This is somewhat controversial. On one hand, netbooks are small, cheap, and light. Sounds perfect for students! However, they have a tiny screen and this can significantly hinder performance and work productivity. If you're planning on using your netbook to send e-mails, do instant messaging, and other non-work-related tasks, then a netbook might be the perfect little gadget to add to your collection of mobile phone for texting. However, if a student is serious about getting some real productivity out of a laptop, then I would suggest getting something that has a screen size of 12" or more (ideally around 14" so that it's not monstrous to lug around Starbucks or Barnes and Noble).